Grain-car door.



No. V7|21%9. Patented noms, |902.

I .'c..mnusnn.

(Appucatin med Dee. so, 1991.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

Jy@ A a I 0%@ WM@ UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ROBERT CJOHNSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 712,139, dated October28, 1902. Application filed December 30, 1901. Serial No. 87,713. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. JOHNSON, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Chi.

cago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Grain-Oar Doors; and I declare the following to bea full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which itpertains'to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ofthis specification.

My invention relates in general to car-doors, and more particularly todoors for grain-cars.

It is desirable that the doors of grain-cars should securely` close thedoor-opening, so as to prevent the grain from falling out of the car andso as to protect the grain by rendering the carwaterproof. `It is alsodesirable that the doors should readily open outward by the weight ofthe grain when the car is to be unloaded, thereby minimizing the f orcerequired to open the doors, and should when the grain has been unloadedswing within the car out of danger of injury.

The object of` my invention is to provide a grain-car door comprisingupper and lower swinging sections, so that the lower portion may swingoutwardly to permit the unloading of the grain independently of theupper section, while the upper section may be swung within the carindependently of the lower section.

A further object of my invention is to provide a grain-car with doorscapable of opening outwardly to permitthe unloading of a car andnormally swinging within the car, against the sides thereofrwhen the caris empty.

A further object is to provide a sectional sheet-metal grain-car doorhinged to the sides of the door-opening by bending the sheet metalaround vertical rods so secured to the-doorjambs as to permit the doorsto swing both outwardly and inwardly.

A still furtherobject of my invention is to provide a grain-car doorwhich will besinlple in construction, durable in use, and efficient inoperation. j

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter with reference tothe accompanymore clearly show the inclination of the door? supportingrod; Fig. 6, a vertical section looking from the right in Fig. 5, andFig. 7 a sectional view looking downwardly with respect toFigs. 5 and 6.

The same reference characters are used to designate the same parts inthe several figures of the drawings. 3

Reference-letter A indicates one of the side sills of the car upon whichthe flooring is supported.

o' and a2 indicate portions of one side'of the `car adjacent to theopening for the door.

A and A2 indicate vertical posts resting' upon the side sills A andsupporting the horizontal beam A3, upon which the roof of the car issecured. A series of eyebolts E- are fixed to the post A', through whichthey pass in a diagonal direction, with the eyes thereof extendingWithin the car and beyond lthe adjacent vertical surfaces of the post.Nuts e ande2 are screwed upon the threaded portionA of the eyebolts atthe points where each bolt passes into and out of the post. ispreferably provided' with recesses Within which the nuts e and e2 arelocated. A series of eyebolts E2, similar to the eyebolts E',

are secured to the post A2at the opposite side of the door-opening ofthe car in a manner similarl to that in which the eyebolts E are securedto the post A. Vertical rods D' and D2 pass through the series ofeyebolts E and E2,- respectively. The rods D and lD2 are preferably solocated as to slightly incline away from the posts A' and A2 at theirupper ends. 'lhe degree of such inclination may The post A" be Varied byprojecting the eyebolts in the series to a greater or less extent withinthe car. The rods D and D2 serve assupports for the IOC doors by meansof portions of the doors, which are preferably formed of sheet metal,surrounding such rods.

The door comprises upper sections B and B2, which are provided withcurved portions b' and b2, surrounding the rods D and D2 between the twoupper eyebolts in each of the series E and E2. The upper door-sectionsare consequently not only arranged to swing about the rods D and D2, butare also supported in proper relation to the lower sections of the doorthrough the engagement of the curved portions b and b2 with theeyebolts. A vertically-swinging bar B3 is pivoted to one of thedoor-sections-forinstance,section B2- and engages when in a horizontalposition with keepers b3 b2, secured to the respective upper sections ofthe door. When it is desired to open the upper sections of the door, thebar B3 is swung to a vertical position. If desired, one of the uppersections of the door may be provided with an opening closed by a slidingcover B4, through which the interior of the car may be inspected. Thelower portion of the door-opening is closed by swinging sections C andC2, which are preferably each formed in two parts, as clearly indicatedin Fig. l of the drawings. The lower doorsections C and C2 are alsopreferably made of sheet metal, which is bent around the vertical rodsD' and D2, as indicated at c and c2, thereby hinging the lowerdoor-sections to the car and also, through the engagement of such bentportions c' and c2 with the series of eyebolts, maintaining thedoor-sections in proper elevation to readily swing from one position toanother'. The two sections C and C3 are secured together by hinges so asto permit the sections to fold located upon each other, with their lineof contact projecting outwardly with respect to the dooropening. Thesections C2 and C4 are similarly connected by hinges,as indicated inFig. l. A vertically-swinging bar C5 is pivotally secured to thedoor-section G4 and engages keepers c5 c5, opening in oppositedirections and secured to the adjoining sections (Fand C4. The ends ofthe bar C5 preferably extend beyond the sections C3 and C4 and overlapthe sections C' and C2. A link C is pivotally connected to the bar C5 atone side of its pivot and is operatively connected at its lower end witha vertically-sliding bolt c6, adapted to engage an opening formed in thedoor-sill, the latter being preferably provided with a metal plate a. Avertically-swinging bar C7 is pivoted to one of the door-sections C' orC3 and engages keepers secured to both of such sections. A bolt c7 isoperatively connected to the bar C7 and is reciprocated by it into andout of engagement with an opening in the metal plate a. Averticallyswinging bar C8 is also preferably pivoted to one of thesections C2 or C'l and engages keepers secured to both of such sections.A bolt es may be operatively connected with the bar CS and operated byit to reciprocate into and out of engagement with an opening in themetal plate a.

c3 and c4 indicate turn-buttons to connect the upper and lowerdoor-sections together.

The manner of using my improved car-door is as follows: It is customaryto fill a car with grain to a depth ordinarily not exceedingthree-fourths of the height of the body of the car, and hence the upperportion of the dooropening need not be closed to prevent the grain fromfalling from the car. If it is desired for the purpose of ventilation orfor other reasons to open the upper portion of the door-space, the barB3 is swung into a vertical position and the upper door-sections B andB2 swung inwardly against the side of the car. When the upper as well asthe lower sections of the door are closed, a tight joint is formedbetween such sections by overlapping the adjoining edges of thesections, as indicated in Fig. 4. By extending the tops of the lowersections on the outside of the upper sections both sections may be swungtogether inwardly against the sides of the car when the latter is empty,and at the same time the upper sections may be swung inwardlyindependently of the lower sections when the car is loaded. When the carhas been loaded and it is desired to unload the grain into anelevator-pit,the bar C5 is swung into an upright position,therebydisengaging the same from the keepers c5 and also removing the bolt c6from engagement with the doorsill. The smallerbars C7 and CS are in asimilar manner swung into vertical positions, thereby disengaging thebolts c7 and o8 from the door-sill. The weight of the grain forces thelower door-sections outwardly, which bend along the lines of the hingesbetween the sections G and C2 and C2 and C4. The width of each of thelower sections is such as to permit them to swing outwardly withoutextending the distance usually allowed between the car and the elevator.The inclination of the rods D and D2, due to their upper ends beinglocated farther within the car than their lower ends, causes the doorsto swing inwardly when the car is unloaded, and the doors aredisconnected from each other and the door sill. The doors when the caris empty will therefore be held by gravity Within the car, although theymay be swung outwardly into positions at right angle with the plane ofthe door-opening and alsomay be swung inwardly against the interiorsides of the car When desired.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that I have devisedan improved graincar door whereby the upper portions of the door may beclosed or opened independently of the closing or opening of the lowerportions of the door and whereby the lower portions of the door may bereadily opened outwardly to unload the grain without opening the upperportions of the door. It will be also observed that I have providedmeans for hinging the doors whereby they will be held within the IOO IZO

car when the car is unloaded and whereby the doors may be swungoutwardly to unload the grain.

While I have described more or less precisely the details ofconstruction, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto,as I contemplate changes in form, the proportion of parts, and thesubstitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggest or renderexpedientwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a car,of doors comprising pairs of upper andlower verticallyswinging sections, and engaging meanspbetween said upperand lower sections whereby the upper sections may swing inwardlyindependently of the lower sections and the lower sections may swingoutwardly independently of the upper sections, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination with a car, of swinging sheet-metal doors, Verticalrods secured to the posts at either side of the door-opening andprojecting beyond the adjacent vertical faces of the posts,and curvedportions of sheet metal integral with the doors loosely surrounding saidrods whereby the doors may swing inwardly or outwardly with respect tothe car, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a car, of swinging sheet-metal doors comprisingupper and lower sections, eyebolts secured to the posts at either sideof the door-opening, vertical rods passing through said eyebolts, curvedportions of sheet metal integral with said doors loosely surroundingsaid rods betweenthe eyebolts whereby the desired vertical relationbetween the upper and lower sections of the doors is maintained,substantially as described.

4. The combination with a car, of swinging doors, vertical rods securedto the posts at either side of the door-opening and located beyond theadjacent vertical faces of the posts, and hinges rigidly secured to thedoors and surrounding said rods whereby the doors may swing outwardlythrough the door-opening or inwardly within the car against the sidesthereof, substantially as described.

5. The combination with acar, of inwardly and outwardly swinging doors,vertical rods at either side of the door-opening, the upper ends ofwhich extend farther within the car than the lower ends, hinges rigidlysecured rods tend to swing within the car, substantially as described.

6 The combination with a grain-car, of sheet-metal doors, comprisingpairs of upper and lower sections overlapping at their meeting edgeswith the tops of the lower sections outside of the bottoms of the uppersections, each of said lower sections being formed in two parts foldingupon each other, eyebolts secured to the posts at either side of thedooropening, vertical rods passing through said eyebolts, curvedportions of sheet' metal integral with said doors loosely surroundingsaid rods between the eyebolts whereby the desired vertical relationbetween the upper y and lower sections of the'doors is maintained,

substantially as described.

7. The combination with a grain-car, of sheet-metal doors, comprisingpairs of upper and lower sections overlapping at their meeting edgeswith the tops of the lower sections outside of the bottoms of the uppersections, each of said lower sections being formed in two parts foldingupon each other, a vertically-swinging beam pivoted to one of thecentral parts of the lower sections and overlapping the side partsthereof, keepers secured to said central parts of the lower sectionsadapted to be engaged by said beam, eyebolts secured to the posts ateither side of the door -opening, vertical rods passing through saideyebolts, curved portions of sheet metal integral with said doorsloosely surrounding said rods between the eyebolts whereby the desiredVerticalrelation between the upper and lower sections of the doors ismaintained, substantially as described.

8. The combination with a car,of verticallyswinging doors, inclined rodssupported at either side of the door-opening having their upper endsextending farther within the car than their lower ends, means rigid withsaid doors pivotally supporting the same upon said rods so as to permitthe doors to swing inwardly or outwardly, the inclination of said.`

rods tending to swing the doors within the car.

In testimony whereof Isign this speciiication in the presence of twowitnesses.

' ROBERT O. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

GEO. L. WILKINSON, CLARA O. CUNNINGHAM.-

IOO

